Vice President's Remarks to Students and Staff at Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
Glynco, Georgia

4:21 P.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much.
Please be seated -- if you've got a chair. (Laughter.)

Well, thank you very much. And good afternoon, Mike and Connie. I
thank you for your kind words, and for the great service that you
render the country. And I want to thank also, Connie, your fine staff,
the faculty members, and all of you that are here today and have taken
the time to come out. I'm pleased, as well, to be with my good friends
Saxby Chambliss and Jack Kingston. They do a superb job for Georgia
and all the folks here. And they're great friends of law enforcement,
as well.

I appreciate the warm welcome to Glynco. And the whole nation
appreciates the men and women who come here for training, as well as
the instructors and staff who devote so much energy and effort to their
jobs, year in and year out. This is an absolutely first-class training
center. Its contribution to the country is more vital today than it's
ever been. You're doing great work for the American people, and I'm
honored to bring congratulations and good wishes to all of you from our
President, George W. Bush.

I've been looking forward to the trip for a long time, and we've
had a great afternoon. It's been 35 years now since the Federal Law
Enforcement Training Center was established to provide high quality,
consolidated training to men and women in law enforcement careers.
Since that time, more than a half million officers and agents have
graduated from FLETC -- including more than 85 percent of the federal
law enforcement workforce.

Before long, those of you now in training will join other graduates
in assignments throughout the government. Wherever that assignment
might be, you can leave here knowing that you've been drilled and
tested -- and found to be worthy. And when the big challenges come
along in your day-to-day work, you'll be ready to face them squarely
and decisively.

This training center has been critical to the improvements we've
made in law enforcement and national security since the attacks of
September 11th. That morning in 2001 changed everything for our
country, as we began fighting a new kind of war against determined
enemies. The terrorists behind 9/11 have declared their intention to
kill great numbers of innocent Americans, and they seek ever more
deadly means to do so. This continuing threat demands a comprehensive,
effective response to make this nation better able to respond to any
future attacks, to reduce our vulnerability and, above all, to hunt
down the terrorists before they can hit us again.

In the 44 months since, we have seen unrelenting effort to defend
the freedom and the security of the American people. In a
multinational campaign, we continue to make progress in many categories
-- financial, legal, military, and otherwise. We are dealing with a
network that has had cells in countries all over the world -- yet bit
by bit, by diplomacy and by force, with our allies and partners, we are
acting to shrink the area in which terrorists can operate freely.

Many countries have joined us in tracking the enemy, disrupting
plots against America and our friends, destroying the training camps of
terror, and closing off their access to funding. With strong partners
at our side -- and with the skill and the honor of the finest military
in the world -- we have removed two brutal regimes. We have persuaded
another regime to voluntarily abandon its weapons of mass destruction
programs. We have uncovered a sophisticated, large-scale network
selling nuclear weapons technologies on the black market -- and we have
shut that network down. The United States has acted decisively, and we
have sent a clear message: We will not stand by and allow terrorists to
find safe haven, or to gain weapons of mass murder to use against us.

The war on terror also has a home front, and we have taken
extraordinary measures to protect the American people and our
homeland. We've increased funding for first responders tenfold since
we took office, to make sure they have the training and the equipment
for WMD detection, and the ability to move quickly against chemical or
biological attack. We've begun Project BioShield, to develop new
vaccines and treatments against biological weapons. We've passed the
Patriot Act, so law enforcement can fight terrorists with the same
tools that we use against organized crime and drugs. We are reforming
our intelligence agencies to ensure that they work as a single, unified
enterprise, under the leadership of the Director of National
Intelligence. And we've created the Department of Homeland Security,
the largest reorganization of the federal government in over 50 years.

DHS, now ably led by Secretary Chertoff, merged together some
180,000 men and women from more than 20 agencies. Standing up this
department has been a massive, necessary undertaking. And all
Americans can be proud of the result. Our nation today has better
security at our borders and airports. We have more sophisticated
monitoring of ports of entry and incoming containers. And elements of
our critical infrastructure -- such as power plants, bridges, and
tunnels -- are also watched over more closely than prior to 9/11.

Yet for all of these improvements in security, we must realize --
as the 9/11 Commission put it recently -- that America is safer, but
that we are not yet safe. Every morning President Bush and I receive
an intelligence briefing, and we review threats tracked during the
previous 24 hours. Several times a week we meet with Mike Chertoff,
the Director of the FBI, and the Director of the CIA. The enemy that
appeared on 9/11 is wounded and off-balance, and on the run -- yet
still very active, still seeking recruits, and still trying to find
ways to hit us. As months and years pass, they are hoping that our
country will grow complacent, and get lazy, and forget our
responsibilities. And it's our job, ladies and gentlemen, to make sure
the United States of America never lets down its guard.

Vigilance, and professionalism, and adaptability are critical to
national security, especially in times of war. And they are watchwords
of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. I can tell you that
I've been immensely impressed by the work that goes on here -- not just
from what I've seen today, but from all I've observed over the years,
particularly in the urgent period since 9/11. In addition to all the
traditional training provided here, you've stepped up to meet the needs
of a new and very different era for law enforcement. For the first
time the President has made countering and investigating terrorist
activity our nation's top intelligence and law enforcement priority.
We've had to move quickly to develop the equipment and procedures to
protect against WMDs, radioactive material, and vehicle-borne
explosives. We've needed a mock port of entry complex, and new
training for flight deck officers, federal air marshals, TSA screeners,
and visa security officers.

We've also needed to make law enforcement officials familiar with
Man-Portable Air Defense Systems, and to get started on a major new
Counterterrorism Operations Training Facility. All of this, and a
great deal more, has been carried out by FLETC, and I can say with
complete confidence that your work is paying off.

It's in the nature of your business -- as in intelligence and
national security -- that many of the wisest judgments and the best
work go unrecognized until years after the fact, if ever. And we may
never know what horrors this country has been spared because of the
extra effort, creativity, and determination of the men and women who
serve America in public safety, intelligence, and national security.
But the President and I want you to know that we realize how hard
you're working. We never take it for granted. And the country is very
grateful.

We're all grateful, as well, to the men and women of our military.
I know that a good number of the people who work and train here are
veterans, and others have family members serving in the armed forces
today. I've had many opportunities to meet with servicemen and women,
from military bases at home and abroad, to the deck of an aircraft
carrier in the Arabian Sea. They are as motivated and focused as I
have ever seen them. Several years ago I was asked to speak to the
class of 2002 at the United States Naval Academy. The attack on
America had taken place, of course, earlier in their senior year. And
I was told that on the morning of September 11th, every midshipman in
the brigade at Annapolis had the same wish, that he or she could
graduate on September 12th, and take the fight to the enemy.

That kind of commitment, that kind of devotion to the freedom and
security of the American people defines our military. And it defines
the men and women who serve the United States as sworn law enforcement
officers. At a time when so many are searching for greater purposes in
life, we can point to people like all of you as examples. I appreciate
the chance to be with you this afternoon to thank you for your fine
work, your idealism, your sense of duty, and the great credit that you
reflect on the United States of America.